$1M Lottery winner: ‘I believe I was sent a sign’

A Columbus man won $1 million in a Georgia Lottery game. (Credit: Georgia Lottery Corp.)

A Columbus man won $1 million in a Georgia Lottery game. (Credit: Georgia Lottery Corp.)

A Columbus man turned two family deaths into his advantage in winning $1 million-plus in the Georgia Lottery.

“My mom passed nine years ago, and my son passed last year,” Clifton Borders Jr., 61, said in a news release from lottery officials. “I played their ages.”

Borders was at a clinic undergoing dialysis when he discovered he had won $1,016,710 from the April 16 Fantasy 5 drawing, officials said.

After verifying his winnings, he was in disbelief.

“I had the numbers and would write them down and move them around,” he said. “These are numbers that I’ve been playing for a year, constantly, and they fell.”

The retired truck driver claimed his winnings Tuesday at the lottery’s Columbus office.

He said he plans to pay medical bills and make some repairs to his home.

“I believe I was sent a sign,” Borders said. “I’m in good spirits.”

In other news: